A Quest for Something Personal
by Melissa Rivers
Summary: When you're tossed out of the hospital by your boss, there's only one thing to do.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **A quest for something personal

**Spoilers: **Episode 2.17 "Personal"

**Summary: **_When you're tossed out of the hospital by your boss, there's only one thing to do._

**Notes: **_I am Australian and I do try to use American terms but some of the Aussie terms may slip through. I apologise if this occurs. Secondly, this is Part 1 of probably three parts. _

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own any characters and NCIS: Los Angeles. I am only playing with Shane Brennan's toys and will put them back when I'm finished._

Hetty looked through the glass window of the hospital room, quietly observing her injured shaggy-haired liaison officer as he slept. New, crisp white bandages covered his wounds; no sign of blood on them this time around. Her dark-haired junior agent sat in the large cream coloured lounge chair, her head resting against the side, obviously having followed her partner into the world of slumber - dreamless sleep would be highly unlikely considering their occupation.

She entered the room silently, well-practised in the art of moving inconspicuously. The soft rhythmic beep of the cardiac monitors filled the dimly lit room. She hesitated, wondering if she should just leave the two of them sleeping, but she knew she needed to speak with Mr. Deeks away from the rest of the team.

"Miss Blye."

Kensi jumped at the sound of Hetty's voice, sitting up straight instantly . It still amazed her that the diminutive woman was able to sneak up on her highly trained, covert agents without them being aware of her presence until she spoke or allowed them to know she was there.

"Hetty," Kensi acknowledged softly, the single word laced with tiredness.

"You may go home now."

"I'm fine. I can stay with him." Kensi swiped her hands over her face and pushed tendrils of hair that had escaped from the hairclip away from her eyes.

"I am sure that you can, but you won't," Hetty's tone and her firm gaze carried enough weight to ensure that her junior agent wouldn't even try to argue the point. "You need to go home and get some sleep. Mr. Deeks doesn't need you looking like the living dead when he awakens."

Kensi raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips, knowing that there was no appropriate response to that statement. She collected her jacket from the back of the chair she had been sitting on and picked up her car keys from the night-stand.

"I'll see you in the morning, Miss Blye." Hetty bid her farewell and sat the seat on the other side of the bed.

Kensi hesitated at the doorway and looked back at Deeks who was sleeping soundly.

"Go dear, he will be fine." Hetty watched her leave the room and only once she was out of sight did she reach up to snag the container of lime green jello sitting on the hospital tray.

Kensi sped out of Pacific Beach Medical, taking the corner tightly and the tires on her silver Cadillac squealed in protest. Her hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, knuckles white with tension. She weaved her way through the traffic, car horns blasting in her wake as she cut her lane changes a bit too fine.

After receiving another blast from an irate motorist, she finally forced herself to relax her grip on the steering wheel and fiddled with the radio to find a station that might distract her from her current thoughts. Kensi didn't want to go home. She was tempted to go to a local bar and have a drink but she knew that she wouldn't stop at one or two and she didn't want Deeks to see the repercussions of that in the morning.

Instead, she turned her car around and headed in the opposite direction of her apartment and one that she had driven to often. Sam had re-enforced into her the importance of varying the routes to get to various destinations, times, parking and the list went on as to how much of a routine came out of not keeping a routine. As she had told Deeks, it was hard to ensure that you didn't fall into doing something regularly at the same time on the same day on the off-chance that someone might want to get you.

Kensi pulled up on Parkson Avenue, a couple of hundred feet from Deeks' apartment. She grabbed her overnight bag from the backseat, locked the car and walked the short distance to his apartment. It only took a moment to gain entry to the second floor unit, the simple lock mechanism no match for her skills in the break-and-enter arena. She would make mention to Deeks to improve his security on his doors although she was sure that it had been included in Sam's lecture.

She felt around and found the light switch, bathing the living room area in soft light and dropped her bag on the ground beside the door. Unlike Dom, she had actually been inside Deeks' apartment before today's events. She had found that Deeks flitted between being obscenely tidy through to mildly messy, depending on what was going on in his life at the time. She'd never witnessed his apartment in the state hers was in permanently. Quite ironic really if you thought about it.

She heard a faint clicking, a familiar sound but one she could not quite place. She warily turned towards the kitchen, where the sound had emanated from to see a large hairy shape flying towards her at top speed.

"No Monty! Down!" It was too late, the dog had launched himself from the couch straight at her. His paws collided with her shoulders, his body slamming into her, taking her to the ground easier than some two hundred pound marine would have succeeded in doing. Maybe Deeks was correct that the dog might save someone one day. The thought lasted only a moment before her face was being washed by Monty's tongue, showing his eagerness to greet her.

"You're not much of a guard dog, Monty," she commented, pushing him off of her and getting up off the ground. "Your owner better appreciate what I've just endured. Scratch that, there's not a chance I'm going to let him know that I was taken down by you. He wouldn't let me forget it."

Monty brown eyes gave her a sorrowful look beneath the silvered shaggy hair hanging over them.

"Deeks teach you that look, too?" Kensi asked, giving him a passing pat on his head as she went into the kitchen.

Monty pushed open the cupboard door, grabbed his leash in his mouth and dropped it at her feet. He gave a small whine and produced his best sorrowful expression with his dark eyes.

"I know that you've been taken for a walk already. Mrs. Martinez takes you out during the day. I can't believe I'm talking to a dog."

Monty sat and pawed at her leg, again using those doeful eyes of his.

"Deeks has definitely been practising his techniques on you. I think you've picked up more pointers than he has. Give me a moment to change and then I'll take you for a run. It'll probably do us both a world of good."

Kensi picked up the leash the dog had dropped on the floor and put it on the kitchen bench. She grabbed her bag and quickly changed into black leggings, a grey crop top and pulled a sweatshirt over top. She tied her hair into a simple ponytail. Her gun was sitting beside the bag and she tucked it into her pocket, today's events pushing to the fore the need for it.

Collecting the dog's leash, she clipped it to his collar and picked up Deeks' house keys that were inside his pantry (another thing to chat to him about) and locked up the apartment. They took off down the street and Kensi let Monty lead the way. She kept a steady pace with the dog as he easily loped along beside her. She wished that she had remembered to grab her ipod. Some music might have diverted the thoughts that were running through her mind as she jogged along.

Kensi headed down towards the foreshore and she deliberately avoided the paved path that most people jogged along. While there weren't a lot of people around at this time of the evening, she really wanted to be on her own. Releasing Monty from his leash, she walked along the water's edge appreciating the firmness of the damp sand beneath her running shoes. Waves rolled in, whitewash gently spreading along the sand before the water drifted back out again.

Kensi watched the dog frolick along the edge of the water like a puppy, barking away at the water as it rolled over in front of his paws. The regularity of the waves going in and out reminded her of the steady blips from the cardiac monitor that had signalled that her partner had not succumbed to the two gunshot wounds he'd suffered - injuries he had endured because Vakar had wanted to get to her.

It didn't bother her that someone had wanted to get her; it was the nature of her job that she would create enemies. They all had them one way or another. It was the fact that they had used her partner to do it that bothered her greatly. She was lucky they decided to use a hospital setting in which to grab her rather than deciding a funeral would be just as good. But the fact that he was alive versus dead did little to alleviate her guilt. Kensi didn't want to even go down that train of thought... there were enough bodies lining up in her closet without adding Deeks to the mix.

"Monty, come here." Kensi called to the happy-go-lucky dog, thinking how much dog and owner suited each other.

Monty immediately came barrelling over and stopped in front of her, shaking his shaggy coat throwing droplets of water in every direction.

"Thanks, Monty but I prefer to take my showers indoors," Kensi commented dryly as she clipped the leash back on the dog's collar. "Let's go home."

They headed up the beach to the path and followed its course back to the road. Monty was still leading the way and Kensi realised that they were now on Culver Boulevard and she noticed that Sandune convenience store was just a few hundred feet ahead of her. She broke her stride when the reality of seeing the place where her partner had been shot set in.

"Monty!" A heavily accented voice called out and the dog pulled Kensi determinedly towards the man. "You must be a friend of Marty's if you are walking his dog." The man was busily petting Monty and ruffling up his coat.

"I'm Frank. I own Sandune convenience store where he was shot this morning. I feel so bad that I didn't tell him about the second man. I was so frightened." Frank's hands were flying about wildly, his anxiety about the robbery and shooting was palpable. "Marty tackled the first one and disarmed him but the second man shot him straight away and then again. I keep seeing it over and over. How is he?"

"He is fine," Kensi reassured him. "He underwent surgery this morning to remove the two bullets but he is doing very well considering."

Kensi clearly recalled looking at Deeks, outside the hospital overtop of the dead would-be abductors, and seeing the copious amounts of blood leaching through his bandages. She knew exactly what Frank was feeling about Deeks being injured while trying to come to the rescue of both of them.

"That is good. I felt terrible that he was shot when he was just trying to stop the robbery." Frank was veritably wringing his hands in distress.

"It's just what De..Marty would do; it comes naturally to him."

"You make sure you wish him well from me." Frank started stepping backwards towards his store. He was holding his hand in the air telling her, "Wait a moment, I have something for Marty. You stay there, Miss. Sorry, I didn't ask you your name."

"Ah, Fern." Kensi could have kicked herself. Of all the alias' she used, why did that one roll so easily off her tongue to Frank.

"Unusual name."

Kensi only smiled and nodded in agreement. She waited outside the store, remnants of the police tape fluttered from a nearby pole. Kensi avoided looking inside the store. She was finding it hard to stand there waiting and she subconsciously gave Monty a pat as he sat patiently beside her. Her thoughts drifted back to Deeks at the hospital, those two wounds ripped open again when he let fire with the fatal shots that saved her from being kidnapped; the two wounds inflicted only a few feet away from where she was standing.

Frank interrupted her thoughts as he returned carrying a brown hessian bag stamped in large blue letters proclaiming it to be 100% Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee. "I know how much Marty likes his coffee. This is Jamaica Blue Mountain, it is one of the best. I got it from my own collection. Tell him thank you very much and I'm sorry that he got hurt."

"I will." Kensi took the bag from him and thanked Frank, assuring him that she was sure Marty would love the coffee.

End Part 1/?


	2. Chapter 2

**Many thanks to those who took the time to review, favourite and alert. I hope you continue to enjoy this story. FYI, there will be about a week between each chapter to give me time to write, edit and review before posting. I hope that I have managed to keep them in character. Family commitments have to come before my writing...**

**Part 2/?**

Kensi lay sprawled on her stomach, arms wrapped around a pillow and blanket draped over her body, sleeping fitfully on Deeks' couch. The television flickered quietly on top of the low dark wood cabinet on the other side of the room, the sound turned down low. A walnut coloured coffee table sat between the couch and the television set and was within easy reach of the couch. While it had been immaculate when she arrived, Kensi's gun and cell phone now sat beside an empty mug and plate. She had also dumped the bag of coffee beans, apartment keys and dog leash.

Monty had left the room after there was no more food on offer, preferring the end of Deeks' queen sized bed in the large bedroom. While the bed had been very tempting, she had decided to stay on the couch. She ended up being quite grateful for the decision as the sounds of the dog snoring permeated through the thin walls of the apartment.

Kensi opened her eyes slowly as a quiet sound broke through her dreams (or nightmares if you were a stickler for accuracy). Her sleep had been filled with gunfire, replaying Deeks being shot in full technicolour definition and physical assaults by burly men but she knew it wasn't that which had brought her out of her fitful sleep. She listened carefully, trying to work out what had dragged her out of her sleep. There was not a sound. Wiping one hand over her face, she looked at the time on her watch. It was four o'clock in the morning.

Laying her head back down on the pillow, she tried to get comfortable enough again to fall asleep. As she turned over on the couch, she heard a creak of a floor board and a couple of carefully placed footsteps. Sliding carefully off the couch, she grabbed her gun from the top of the coffee table and now crouched on the floor. Using the couch as cover, she carefully scanned the room. The television was throwing just enough light to enable her to make out shadows and shapes but not much else.

She saw a silhouette near the kitchen area. She could not make out whether the person had a weapon or not. Deeks had taken out Vakar and she'd done the same with his two associates - was there a third? Or was it someone simply deciding Deeks was an easy target for robbery.

"NCIS. Put your hands in the air," Kensi called out standing up in a firm, no questions asked, stance.

"Kensi, it's me."

"Callen." Kensi let out a sigh of relief. She put the safety on her gun and dropped her hands to her side, her body visibly slumping as the tension of the moment left her. She sat down heavily on the couch. "What are you doing here?"

Callen flicked on the light in the room and Kensi squinted in response to the bright light. Callen saw her reaction and immediately dimmed the lights. He casually wandered over to drop his body into one of the comfortable looking armchairs sitting adjacent to the couch.

"I could ask you the same thing. Never expected to find you snoring away on Deeks' couch." Callen gave a smirk as he finished the sentence.

"I don't snore," Kensi told him indignantly.

"I call them as I see them, or hear them, in your case. You were so out of it you didn't even notice me drop the blanket over you."

Kensi threw one of the pillows from the couch at him playfully and gave him a small smile of thanks for the blanket. She leaned back against the remaining pillows and tucked her bare feet under the blanket.

"You never answered me. Why are you here?" she reminded Callen. She didn't bother asking him how he had gained entry to Deeks' apartment as she suspected his method was probably the same as hers.

"I came to check on Deeks' dog. That shaggy mutt he brought to work."

"Monty." Kensi supplied the name of the so-called mutt.

"Yeah. The supposed police dog extraordinaire that's sacked out on Deeks' bed. I'll have to make sure Deeks knows what a great guard dog he has. He took one look at me, rolled over and went straight back to sleep." Callen shook his head, remembering the day Deeks tried showing them how good a bomb detector dog he was and failed miserably.

Kensi grinned and resisted telling him that he was lucky that was all the dog did as he could have taken him out with one unexpected flying leap. She suspected the dog was a lot like his owner, keeping his abilities under wraps most of the time and only pulled them out when it was necessary.

"But I found you on the couch with a dog leash on the coffee table so I suspect that you've not only fed the dog but also walked him."

"Guilty as charged." Kensi gave him a tired smile.

"Do you want a drink?" Callen called back over his shoulder as he headed to the kitchen. "I'm making tea."

"Tea will be fine," Kensi answered softly.

Callen added water to the electric kettle and turned it on. He didn't need to ask how she had her tea - her sweet tooth ran to her tea cup as well with a half spoon of sugar and cream. He doubted that she had eaten much during the day and added another lot of sugar to the tea. He subtly watched Kensi as he went about making the tea. It didn't take him long to realise that she was deeply troubled. It was how to approach her without getting his head bitten off that would be the challenge.

"You'll have to excuse the paper taste," he commented as he passed over the cup to her.

Kensi had her legs pulled up to her chest under the blanket. She accepted the hot cup and balanced it on top of her knees, her hands cupped around the mug drawing comfort in the warmth from the hot brew.

"Hetty would be disappointed in you."

"You can only work with what is available. I was surprised Deeks had tea at all. We all know he mainlines coffee."

"True."

Callen sat down at the other end of the couch, ensuring that he would have a chance of seeing what was going on behind her dark multi-coloured eyes.

"Why didn't you just go home?" Callen asked, cocking his head and narrowing his eyes slightly as he considered his fellow agent.

"Poor Monty would have gotten over exercised if you'd taken him out too," she answered, rubbing at her neck with one hand and giving a small roll to ease the tight muscles.

"Nice try. You didn't know I'd be coming so you're just avoiding the question, Kens."

She looked at him directly, her eyes dark and brooding. "I was just going to get some things together for him originally, then I walked Monty and coming back here..." Kensi broke off and subconsciously gnawed on her thumbnail.

"You could have just stayed with him at the hospital," Callen pointed out logically knowing that being with the man himself would be better than his dog and his possessions.

"Hetty," Kensi responded simply. That one word spoke volumes.

"Ah, I understand." Callen knew only too well how there had not been a chance that Kensi would have been able to stay at the hospital.

"He could have been killed today, Callen," she said softly.

"But he wasn't."

"You know Deeks drives me nuts sometimes with all his inane chatter but today, when Hetty told me he had been shot, all that didn't matter. Some of what I've said and done seems so petty and pitiful in retrospect."

"Deeks gives as good as he gets in your partnership. But there's more to this than Deeks being shot."

Kensi slumped down further against the couch, one finger gently circling the rim of the porcelain mug. "Sometimes I wish Nate were here."

"We do have another operational psychologist."

"Yeah, but he's not Nate. Nate didn't push and prod the way the new guy does. I'm not explaining it very well but I didn't mind sharing some of my thoughts with Nate. They tended to just come out whereas all I want to do is clam up with the new guy."

"I know I'm not Nate but I can listen," Callen offered gently.

Kensi looked at him quizzically. She was thinking how strange it was to have Callen offering this. Sam she could understand but Callen?

The confusion must have shown on her face as Callen quickly continued, "Can't say I would offer you anything as profound as Nate but you know I understand what you go through every day as an undercover agent."

"It's just too many times. You, Dom and now Deeks." Kensi shook her head, trying to dispel the heaviness that she was feeling now she was airing the dark thoughts that were running through her mind.

"Kens, it's the nature of our job. There's a high risk involved. You know that."

"In our job there are always dangers and I know the risk of one of us getting injured can happen. But all of the shootings have occurred off duty and with you all being targeted. I know I can handle what occurs in the line of duty; it's what happens when our guard is down that worries me."

Callen hadn't thought of all of the three attacks in that way. The parallels between Dom and Deeks had been drawn instantly by both Kensi and Sam. He certainly hadn't put his own shooting into the same category but obviously Kensi had.

"We won't let our guard down."

"Easy to say but they even got you."

"Kens, when you were investigating who could have been targeting Deeks you had a list of one hundred suspects. Each of us has a list of at least a similar length. What we do brings us to be a possible target on and off the job. It's why we are so careful not to allow anything to become routine, to protect our identities. But if someone is really wanting to get to us, they can and they will."

"Deeks is blaming himself for what happened when he really should be blaming me I didn't check that he was changing his routine. I was the target, not Deeks. Vakar shot Deeks just to get to me."

"And that's not your fault. Kens, we are all guilty of not ensuring that Deeks changed his routine. We all should have realised that as a LAPD undercover they don't have the same methods that we employ at OSP. Any one of us could have done this, even Hetty, but we all assumed that he was doing it."

"Yeah and it makes an ass out of u and me," Kensi added dryly.

Callen raised his eyebrows in response to the quip. "You could have left that one alone."

"Too tempting."

"Deeks is rubbing off on you."

Normally she would have instantly denied this but the reality was that she was changing subtly though her partner's influence. And after almost losing him this morning, she could definitely cope with the statement.

"Maybe just a bit," she conceded with a small smile.

"He's going to be okay," Callen reassured her.

"Yeah, I know." Kensi gave a small laugh. "He had only just regained consciousness and he was already showing fine form."

"Really?" Callen was not surprised. Deeks had already showed that he could keep going when things got rough.

"Yep, he was immediately hitting on the nurses." She failed to mention that he'd also tried to con her first.

"You can't keep a good man down."

Kensi nodded in agreement and added softly, "he proved that today."

"Two bullet wounds and he was still able to come and protect his partner."

"I don't think he'll be rushing around so fast this time." Kensi recalled him grimace as the doctors examined the wounds after his three story run down the stairs after her. He had thought the elevators would be too slow and had been correct; the LAPD officers had used them and were a few essential seconds behind him. "Re-stitching those wounds even with a local anaesthetic wasn't much fun."

"He complains loudly but it takes a lot to keep him from doing his job."

"Yeah, well, after today I'm going to tolerate his verbosity."

"That's a tall order, Kens."

"I probably should have said attempt to," Kensi amended, yawning as she placed the mug on the coffee table.

"I'll remind you of that in the future when he's being extremely irritating." Callen gave her a grin.

Kensi gave another wide yawn and rubbed at her eyes which were now feeling extremely tired.

"Callen, I know that you operate on very little sleep but do you mind if I get some more before morning otherwise Hetty is going to have my head. Her firm instructions were to get some sleep."

"I could argue that you have had plenty by the amount of snoring you were doing earlier but it looks like you might need some more beauty sleep."

Kensi rolled her eyes and hunkered back down under the blanket. Callen stood up and passed her the pillow she'd thrown at him earlier. He then picked up the three mugs on the table and the plate.

"I'll just tidy up these dishes and will head on home."

"Thanks Callen," Kensi mumbled.

Callen gave a tight smile as he went into the kitchen. It wasn't often that Kensi would allow any of their team to see her fears but with this brush with death for Deeks, it had definitely pushed her emotionally. Nate would have been better equipped to deal with her fears and concerns but he hoped that by giving her the chance to talk had helped.

End Part 2/?


	3. Chapter 3

**I hope that those who read this story enjoyed it and many thanks to those who took the time to review, favourite and alert. This part has been written without the numerous editing I usually do. I'd love to hear whether you are happy with the end to this story**

Part 3/3

Waiting was not something Sam did very well at the best of times; when it involved waiting for his partner when he should still be in bed sleeping, he did it with even less patience. Callen had called him at just after four thirty in the morning to see if he could pick him up from Deeks' apartment.

The only reason that he agreed was because he knew _why_ Callen was at the said apartment. After Kensi's emotional reaction that morning to Deeks' shooting combined with the discovery that Deeks was shot by Vakar to get at her, they wanted to keep close tabs on their colleague.

As they left the hospital after Sam's quiet but firm lesson with Deeks on his security protocol, both men had brought up Kensi and her reaction to Deeks' shooting. They were a bit worried about how she would react once everything died down. Her penchant for choosing inappropriate male companions or overindulgence in liquor made them cautious as to what choices she might make. Neither Sam nor Callen really wanted to interfere in Kensi's personal life but every now and again, their protective radar went up the scale and they went where they normally would not go.

They had been happy when Eric had told them she had returned to the hospital. Eric had expressed his concern over using the GPS on Kensi's phone to keep tabs on her. Both of them had assured him that she wouldn't find out.

Callen and Sam had been at a steak house when Eric had called Callen's cell phone, telling them that Kensi was on the move and was definitely not heading for home. Eric had still been on the phone when she'd pulled up in Deeks' street.

Finally the door to his Dodge Charger opened and Callen slid into the passenger seat.

"Ready for a run?" Sam asked as he started the car, coasting gently off towards one of his more challenging jogging experiences. If Callen was going to get him up this early, the least he could do was reward his partner with a gruelling work-out before his morning breakfast of waffles and pigs in a blanket. Sam shuddered at the thought of the fat induced breakfast.

"As long as a decent breakfast is on the menu afterwards," Callen agreed rubbing his hands together to warm them.

"Why do you do it to yourself? All that effort to exercise and then you kill it by eating an unhealthy breakfast."

"They call it a hearty breakfast." Callen turned to face him and gave him a big smile.

"Yeah. It goes straight to your heart's arteries."

"You never know when you are going to have to go undercover, so I prefer to ensure that I'm properly prepared."

Sam just shook his head. He had been trying to convince Callen to try a healthier diet for years with no success, he wasn't about to think that it was going to change today.

"How is she?" Sam asked.

"Sleeping. At least she was when I left." Callen had slipped out of the room quietly, leaving both the dog and Kensi snoring away in unison although the dog was much louder than hers.

"Is that all you are going to tell me after getting me up at this hour of the morning?"

"You didn't have to face Kensi with a gun in her hand in a darkened room. I lost the coin toss, I get to know the inner workings of Kensi Blye." Callen added with a waggle of his eyebrows.

"Are you sure you want to brag about that?" Sam deadpanned.

"She'll be fine. She's feeling guilty about Deeks getting shot and it's also brought up losing Dom. And you know how that feels."

"She could build up more walls around herself."

"What's new? Isn't that what we all do? Kensi's had enough practice with the history that we know. There's probably lots that we don't know too."

"You're right.," Sam conceded. "She's tough. She'll be okay."

"I'm always right. They'll both be okay. Which is good because I'm getting used to Deeks."

"You are so easy to please," Sam commented with a grin and a shake of his head.

* * *

Kensi woke to an unusual sensation. She opened one eye and groggily looked down at her hand that was being thoroughly licked by Monty.

"Argh." Kensi quickly sat up, moving her arm away from the dog and swiping it down her pant leg, more to remove the sensation of slobber than actual saliva.

"There are some things that a girl never wants to have happen and that is one of them Monty. Licking my hand is on the no go list."

Monty looked at her quizzically.

"I'm sure if you could talk, you'd be telling me that it worked."

Kensi pushed herself up from the couch and went to the bathroom to wash her hands. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Monty was now sitting in the doorway watching her intently.

"I'm not used to being followed and watched like this. Sorry Monty, but there is no way that I'm going to have you watch me get ready," she told him firmly as she closed the bathroom door. A very quick shower and she was dressed and ready to take the dog out for his morning walk. While having a shower, she had decided what she needed to do before heading into work.

* * *

Kensi managed to slip into Deeks' room without anyone stopping her along the way, which in itself was quite amazing considering the early hour combined with her companion. It was probably a good thing that they had run a protection detail for Deeks yesterday if this was proof of the type of security they run at Pacific Beach Medical. Still, it could be they had decided not to hassle an armed Federal agent who had shot dead two would-be kidnappers.

Deeks looked like he was sleeping. All the monitors had been removed and the room was quiet. There was only one drip going into his arm, which would likely be antibiotics to keep infection at bay. From her own experience, the intravenous drip would be removed after twenty-four hours and he would be on oral antibiotics for the next ten days.

His breakfast tray sat on the mobile table and looked to be untouched. Kensi looked under the covers and confirmed that the congealed eggs looked like rubber and much less edible.

"Are you going to steal my breakfast as well?" Deeks asked, watching her with hooded eyes.

Kensi jumped at his voice, not realising that he had known she was there. "I thought you were asleep."

"Last time I slept and there was jello on that tray, it disappeared. I'm keeping one eye open now."

"Very funny," Kensi told him. "I actually brought you a breakfast burrito although if you don't want …"

"A breakfast burrito? Give it to me." Deeks moved a bit too suddenly to grab the burrito from her full hands and gave a low whistle in response to the pain.

Monty whined upon hearing his owner's distress and put his paws up against the bed, nudging Deeks' arm with his long nose.

"You brought my dog into the hospital?" Deeks ruffled the fur around Monty's neck and the dog whined in response.

"He was missing you," Kensi said matter-of-factly, placing down Deeks' carry-all on the floor and placing the other couple of items onto the seat beside the bed. "I wasn't stopped once when I walked him in. Even if they had, I was ready to tell him he is a police dog here on police business."

"They probably didn't ask because they took one look at you and thought you might shoot them."

"Ha ha. You must be feeling better."

"They're talking about discharging me tomorrow," Deeks told her. Monty took only a moment to take a leap and laid down on the bed beside his owner.

"That's good, isn't it?" Kensi asked him.

"If I stay much longer, I would die of starvation. Between my jello disappearing and the unappetising menu." Deeks pushed aside the breakfast tray and put the bag containing the burrito down.

"One jello cup – and I didn't eat much of it anyway."

"It always starts with just one…" Deeks broke off as he took a bite out of the burrito.

"I'm not even going there," Kensi told him, stifling a smile. "By the way, Frank sends his greetings and hopes that you get better soon. He also sent along this." Kensi handed over the coffee beans that Frank had given her.

"Jamaica Blue Mountain. Wow! Do you know how much this bag costs?" Deeks marvelled, holding the hession bag like it was gold.

"I'm sure you are going to tell me."

"Actually it doesn't matter exactly how much. It is how it tastes that is important. Freshly ground and brewed Jamaica Blue is exquisite."

"I wouldn't go around getting shot just so that you can get free coffee."

"It hadn't even crossed my mind. Like I said, it's not like in television. There is pain and it hurts." Deeks was looking at her closely as he said this. "I was right, you have been shot before." There was a look of glee on his face.

"And how do you jump to that conclusion? I told you I haven't been shot." Kensi tried to keep her face passive as she replied.

"The look of understanding that flashed across your face as I mentioned _pain_."

Kensi decided it was best to change the subject. There was no way that she was going to discuss gunshot wounds with her partner at this time. Maybe sometime in the future but not right now.

"I brought you in a change of clothes, your cell phone and your ipod – both fully charged and ready to go."

"How did you … forget that. You broke into my home."

"Well, we won't worry about the method of entry but your dog isn't very good at guarding the premises."

"He knows you, Kens. He'd attack anyone he doesn't know."

Kensi looked at the dog lying sedately on the bed, only a flicker of an ear occasionally indicating that he was actually alive. "I wouldn't want to be relying on him too heavily. I'd suggest you putting in a security system as well as better locks."

"Then you wouldn't be able to break in." Deeks responded, taking another healthy bite of the burrito.

"I'm not going to need to."

"You're kinda assuming a lot." Deeks swiped at his mouth with a napkin.

Kensi shook her head, wondering what she had done to have a partner that read innuendo into every statement made. "I meant that you aren't going to get shot and put in the hospital again… not you giving me your key."

"It might not be a bad idea. Us having each other's keys, just in case." Deeks pointed out, gingerly easing himself up on the pillows.

"That's only because you can't break into my home."

"True. You do have an advantage over me. You've also seen my house and I've never been inside of yours."

"Patience is a virtue."

"So I will get to see it one day."

Kensi decided to quit while she was ahead. "I've brought in some of your comics and a couple from my collection that you might like to read."

Deeks thumbed through the comic books, giving a smile when he saw that Bizarro and Wonder Woman were included in the mix.

"I don't need to tell you to take care of them, do I?" Kensi gave him a hard look.

"I value my life and I don't want to have to stay here any longer than necessary. You've already threatened to shoot me twice with less provocation."

Deeks looked at Kensi quizzically as different pieces of a puzzle in his mind began to fall into place. "Kens, how did Frank give you the coffee?"

"I was walking Monty and Frank saw me, recognised your dog and put two and two together that I must know you."

"You walked my dog last night and have brought him in again this morning along with my clothes. You know I have Mrs. Martinez to look after Monty when I'm away…"

"I needed to do something and thought that I'd get your stuff for you. I had actually forgotten about Monty until I opened the door and he greeted me."

"He greeted you? He took you out with his flying leap, didn't he?" Deeks knew that Monty was not gentle in his greeting every time he came home but he was aware of it and had worked out how to avoid getting plastered to the floor.

"I wasn't expecting it." Kensi admitted grudgingly.

"Most people don't. As I said, it depends whether he likes you or not as to how he will react." Deeks knew for sure that if the person was an intruder that he'd have their neck in his jaw.

"Obviously he likes Callen as all he did was turn over on your bed when he turned up."

"Callen came over?"

"To walk your dog. But I'd already done it. So he didn't stay long and went home."

"Did you sleep at my apartment?" Deeks finally asked the question that he wanted an answer to. The final piece of the puzzle in his brain was finally falling into place.

Kensi looked left and right, realising that she'd walked blindly into that question. "Yes. It was late, Monty was lonely. I was watching TV and fell asleep."

"I'm sure Monty adored having your company," Deeks agreed.

Kensi looked at him and could only see sincerity in his eyes. For his part, Deeks was even more intrigued by his partner who he recently compared to Wonder Woman. The same woman who managed to get hit by a car and kept going after him. (CCTV hadn't just revealed his drop into the canal but also her collision with the sedan.) The same woman who had also built walls around herself to deal with the loss of her father, the desertion by her fiancé and loss of her partner Dom the previous year. The fact that she had stayed at his house indicated another facet of his partner that he had not seen before and wanted to get to know.

"I had better take Monty back home and get to work before Hetty comes after me with her letter opener." Kensi called Monty, who promptly jumped down from the bed and sat obediently at her side.

Deeks grimaced for a moment at the movement on the bed, pain shooting through his chest. He looked at his dog and grinned to himself thinking _she's got you under her spell, Monty and you don't even realise it._

"Thanks for looking after Monty and bringing my stuff in Kens."

"No problem. Let me know when they are releasing you tomorrow and I'll pick you up."

Deeks nodded and was glad that he would be seeing her again so soon. He had better make sure his doctor agreed to discharge him and if they didn't he might just leave against medical advice. Having his partner by his side was going to be the best cure for his injuries.

End 3/3

* * *

Note: The medical information in regards to the antibiotics comes from my own experience with major surgery and not from research. I'm assuming that it would be similar with a gunshot wound but I've been slack and not done the medical research I would normally do for this short story.


End file.
